Destruction of social, moral and cultural values in Saul Bellow´s Herzog and Humboldt´s Gift

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to analyze the destruction of social, moral and cultural values in Herzog and Humboldt´s Gift which were written by Saul Bellow. The main focus is thereafter to portray the changing concept of Jewish values in post-war America. The theoretical part of this thesis is dealing with the historical-cultural context of Jewish American literature, with the characteristic features of Saul Bellow´s fiction and its protagonists. The theoretical part is thereafter focused on the process of Jewish American vanishing and the crisis of Jewish-American values. Special attention is paid to the notion of Jewish past, memory and destruction of the concept of Jewish family as the centre social unit. The analytical part of this thesis is based on the literary connections between Herzog and Humboldt´s Gift and thereafter on the value aspects of particular protagonists from both works.